4.4 Escape Velocity

It seems to me that Season 4 is spinning its wheels a little, easing itself into a position where it can then launch at its next target. This episode, for instance, focused mainly on Tigh, Tyrol and Gaius and was pretty much concerned with their transitional phase.

Gaius was assuming the role of his cult leader status with the potential for it to develop and turn him into a genuine messianic prophet. Despite Laura wanting to pass laws that blocked the ability for Gaius and his followers to gather in one spot (following the attack at the start of the episode) Gaius eventually came through, after a bit of martyrish beating for his troubles.

Apollo once more served to oppose the strict grip on passing laws Laura was pushing through. Again I can see both sides of the coin. Laura’s actions have something of a tyrannical nature and Apollo is right to bring them to the attention of the quorum and have new motions voted democratically. However, given the state of the fleet and the few numbers left in the entire human race, drastic situations call for desperate measures.

Unfortunately, Laura is perhaps not in the best place to be making decisions, looking down the barrel of her own mortality. It seems that she’s definitely going to die this time. I mean, there’s no sign of Hera’s blood coming to her rescue! (Why is that? Is Hera no longer a viable means of curing her?) Potentially Laura may make moves and strike actions with increasing abandon, which may prove detrimental or helpful in the long run.

Tigh has developed a growing fascination with Caprica Six, wanting to know more about her as a means of knowing more about himself. This shows his growing curiosity and acceptance of what he is. Of the Final Four only Tori has embraced her new self, Tigh and Tyrol are struggling with it.

By the end of the episode Tigh had allowed Caprica to beat him fairly badly, but when he was asking for more she seemed to realise that pain was not what he needed – and instead she kissed him. Quite what that means for the future of their relationship remains to be seen.

Elsewhere Tyrol “frakked up” with his ship repairs and so went into himself, working tirelessly and then drinking. The resulting scene with him and Adama in the bar, with Tyrol letting rip about his disaffected life led to Adama relieving him of his post. If anything is going to ease Tyrol into a new transition as a Cylon it’s no longer having his wife, and his job – the two things that anchored him previously are now gone. And since his child is probably as important to the Final Four (it’s the only one of its kind, right?) then it will have no means of preventing him from embracing Cylonhood!

So that was that, really. Various key players slowly moving across the board to slot into a new place.